Philly Front Office

The Marlins finished 2025 in 3rd place in the NL East and were not eliminated from playoff contention until the final weekend of the season. This is a team that was so anonymous to start last year that the 3 athletes on their Opening Day Promo included Sandy Alcantara (who hadn’t pitched in 2 years), Dan Marino (not a baseball player), and a generic looking, possibly AI-generated, white, bearded (redundant, I know), male (who was later identified as Connor Norby). Through a series of minor league promotions and opponents overlooking them, the Marlins comparatively thrived. Ownership was obviously incensed like Rachel Phelps when she owned the Cleveland Indians. Expect vengeance…

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NL East Previews ’26

Taking Care of Business

First order of business, trade anyone who is even thinking about making more money than the minimum (except Sandy Alcantara and we’ll get to him). Unfortunately, since last year’s team was such a bare bones operation, there simply wasn’t much inventory to sell. Still, #3 and #4 starters Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers had to go (to Chicago and New York, respectively).

Oh no! Who can they sell now??? Don’t fret rest of the league, your favorite farm team did what it could to restock for you. In the offseason, they signed reliever Pete Fairbanks, starter Chris Paddack, and first baseman Christopher Morel. With any kind of decent performance, all 3 should be available at the trade deadline.

Salary Armageddon

The Marlins salary situation is completely ridiculous (as always). Of the 26-man Opening Day roster, only 7 players will be making more than $1m and 4 of them were brought in as free agents. Technically, since Sandy Alcantara only has a club option for 2027 left on his contract, ZERO players have a guaranteed contract for next season. Even the Nationals have one long term contract on their books.

Let’s get to Sandy. He is on borrowed time in Miami. The only reason he hasn’t been traded already is because he got hurt at the end of 2023, then missed all of 2024, then wasn’t at his best in 2025. Instead of selling him when his value was lowest, they are giving him one more chance. Considering he has a $21m club option for next season, there is simply no scenario where he begins 2027 as a Marlin. If he pitches well, a contender will want him. If he doesn’t, then the Marlins will not want to be in a position to decline his option and get nothing for him. If by some chance the Marlins crush it this year and Sandy is at the top of a pennant leading rotation, he will be gone in the offseason rather than sign an extension. That last one isn’t likely.

Pete Fairbanks has been a good reliever for a few years now and anything close to his usual performance numbers will mean he will have a trade deadline market. He was signed to be traded, simple as that. The Marlins bullpen also features two arbitration eligible and solid relievers in Anthony Bender and Calvin Faucher. Since the Marlins and arbitration raises don’t mix, expect them to be on the market in July as well.

While there is a decent possibility that all six of the above players get moved before the deadline, even just the likely trades of Alcantara and Fairbanks would be a laughable detonation of the team’s payroll. The tax payroll right now is $77.4m (lowest in the league because the Nationals are still paying Steven Strasburg), but those trades will take it down to around $54.8m. Remember, around $20m of that is player benefits and rookie bonus pool and they are still paying Giancarlo Stanton $3m. So yeah, the Marlins could be running out a $31.8m payroll by August. 15 MLB players make more than that.

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What’s Here

As much as I bitch about their lack of payroll, the Marlins are obviously talented. Jakob Marsee came up last year and put up 2 WAR in about 1/3 of a season. He tailed off considerably in his 2nd month in the big leagues, but should be a solid contributor. He will eventually be joined in the outfield by Kyle Stowers who put up a .900+ OPS season last year, but will start 2026 on the IL. Rounding out the talented outfield will be rookie red head Owen Caissie. Caissie is a top 50 prospect who came over from the Cubs in the Edward Cabrera trade. He is coming off an impressive WBC for Canada adnd is known for his power (and strikeouts).

Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez form a great defensive tandem up the middle and give some solid pop to the lineup. Edwards particularly has batting title upside at the plate. Catcher Agustin Ramirez was not great behind the plate last year, but did hit 33 doubles. As a whole, this lineup is designed to take advantage of spacious Loan Depot Park. You are going to see a lot of line drives to the gaps rather than home runs.

The rotation at least has the potential to be good. Alcantara will be the Opening Day starter and look to rebound from a pretty bad first year back from TJ Surgery. Spring has not looked great so far. Behind him is ace in waiting Eury Perez. Perez also missed 2024 to TJ but is only about to turn 23. If he gets back to the level he was in 2023, the Marlins will attempt to lock him up with a team friendly extension as he would be the centerpiece of the next core of Marlins. As much as I make fun of their system, they haven’t exactly had any stars in the last few years either. Perez is potentially a star.

The rest of the rotation is junk. Max Meyer is a former top prospect who got hurt in his debut against the Phillies and hasn’t been the same since. Paddack is a journeyman with very little success in his now 7-year MLB career. Then there is Junk himself. Janson Junk had the best run of his career for the Marlins last year, pitching 110 innings of 4.17 ERA ball. At 29, this was the most run he has ever received in the majors.

The bullpen isn’t too bad on paper. Fairbanks will be the closer, unfortunately displacing absolute lunatic and former Phillie Tyler Phillips (who comes in to Mother by Danzig and its awesome). They will be asked to lock down games while Bender, Faucher, and Andrew Nardi provide serviceable middle relief. How long they all stay there is anyone’s guess.

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Prospects

Caissie is going to be the first of the Marlins system to hit the majors this season, but he won’t be the last. Miami boasts two near ready pitchers in Thomas White and Robby Snelling, both Top 50 prospects themselves with White being one of the best pitching prospects in the minors. Both should be up by the summer assuming good performance. Finally, there is Joe Mack, a defense first catching prospect who could (and probably should) eventually split time behind the plate most of the year. Considering Agustin Ramirez might not have a long future behind the plate, moving him to DH so Mack can solidify an otherwise very good defensive infield should be the move sooner rather than later.

Outlook

Despite last year’s overachieving, this year’s Marlins probably will not do the same. It isn’t impossible, but they would need all of last year’s prospects to continue their ascent rather than suffer sophomore slumps. That being said, the future is finally looking decently bright, even with potential veteran trades on the horizon. The farm system is about to compliment ace Eury Perez in the rotation and the lineup is a mix of doubles hitters and power that could really put the screws to unsuspecting teams. The farm has been built up and should get another jolt from potential trades for Alcantara and Fairbanks. I am much more bullish on the 2027 Marlins than the 2026 team…assuming they stop being everyone’s farm team.

Stats: Baseball-Reference

Contracts: Spotrac

Photo: Sam Navarro / USA Today